KCSE Candidates arrested as crackdown intensifies

Invigilators frisks KCSE candidates before the start of Kiswahili Paper at Njoro Boys’ High school in Njoro, Nakuru County on November 7, 2018. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]
The ongoing crackdown on examination cheats continued to bite with two candidates separately arrested in connection with theft of tests.

A university student was arrested and charged for sitting a KCSE examination in Kisii as crackdown on examination cheats mount. Davis Ongiri, the Maseno University student was arrested on Thursday, booked at Ogembo Police Station and produced before Senior Resident Magistrate Margret Nafula.
The student was charged with falsifying information that he was a genuine KCSE candidate registered at St Joseph Nyansakia Mixed Secondary School in Bomachoge.
The magistrate ordered that he be detained until November 19, when he will return to take a plea.
Another candidate was arrested in Nairobi with a mobile phone containing Chemistry examination material.
Centre supervisor Nancy Murithi caught Abshir Mohammed and reported his case at Pangani police station.
Police reports indicate the student was in possession of a smart phone on his desk, which was immediately taken away.
Police say the mobile phone contained questions and answers to English paper three, stored in a WhatsApp group of 70 members.
And in Ngong, 19 boys of Oloolaiser High School were arrested after they went on rampage on Thursday night. The students destroyed windowpanes and other school property.
The developments came as Education CS Amina Mohamed released further measures aimed at curbing cheating.
Amina instructed that no unauthorised teacher or staff, including secretaries and clerks, will be allowed to hang around the precincts of the school compounds during the examination season.
The CS also directed that all security officers must sit at positions where they have a full view of the examination materials for the second paper as the morning paper is underway.
She further directed that all school gates must remain wide open throughout the day to allow ease of monitoring. The CS also cautioned examination officials not to leave their stations of work for tea or any other activities while examinations are in progress.
Meanwhile, a KCSE candidate in Taita Taveta County who claimed to have become blind suddenly at the start of the national examination has been barred from sitting the papers after alleging she has recovered her sight after intense prayers.
Knec officials turned her away at the examination centre when she tried to resume the examinations yesterday. The girl, who claims she regained her eyesight following divine intervention, went to the examination centre to join her 51 other colleagues in writing her final examination only to be turned away.
The Marungu Secondary School student identified failed to write her final examination on Monday following the mysterious blindness. Her family blamed her sudden health condition on witchcraft, but there was no medical evidence to back the claims of sudden loss and recovery of sight.
The distraught and tearful girl arrived in the morning to join the rest of the candidates only to be told that she would not write her final examination because compulsory subjects had already been done.